Tehran, YJC. Late Frye’s will to be buried in Iran has set politicians in the country against each other.
Well-known Iranologist Richard
Nelson Frye died on March 27. In his will he had asked to be buried by the
Zayanderud in Isfahan. This has met a lot of controversy by different groups
within Iran.
On Sunday Isfahan
representatives to the Majlis addressed President Rouhani in a letter demanding
that he would ban Frye to be buried as his will suggests.
Threatening the president
against a "harsh, uncontrolled public reaction” in case the Iranian government
agrees to "such a diplomatic disgrace” as burying the body of the Iranologist,
the lawmakers count their plead as representing the view of "the ever militant,
zealous, and religious people of the province.”
"In the future we will be
enacting our obligation in full force in accordance with the action the
government would undertake,” they strongly maintain.
Meanwhile
reports go that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a letter to the Head
of the Presidential Staff Mohammad Nahavandian has demanded proper cooperation
in fulfilling the well-known Iranologist’s will.
The letter
also mentions that the Grand Islamic Encyclopedia Center has agreed to build a
tomb for Frye.
Earlier, Head of the center
Kazem Mousavi Bojnourdi had in letters to President, Foreign Minister, and
Isfahan Governor-General asked for the body to be conveyed to Isfahan and
buried beside the tomb of another Iranologist Arthur Pope who lies by the
Zayanderud.
In reaction to the to-be
burial of Frye, unknown people used graffiti to give the tomb of Pope an
improper sight.
The latest report, though, goes
that sources close to Zarif have denied such a demand being made by the Foreign
Minister, stating that doing so is not within the prejudices of the Foreign
Ministry.